There is nothing—
Nothing
You ever need to do for the Father to be proud of you
Nothing
~You could flunk geometry twice
~Graduate with a 2.0 GPA
~Date dumb people
~Pledge to love the wrong ones
~Quit jobs without notice
~Get numerous speeding tickets
~Run out of gas perpetually
~Always arrive late
~Burn the dinner
~Forget to make dinner
~Miss your child’s class party
~Hold a grudge
~Wall up your heart
~Stay in your comfort zone
~Self-medicate
~Allow dishes to pile up
~And laundry to go undone
~Spend more money than you make
~Never finish any of the books you start
~Never make time for the in-laws
~Forget birthdays
~Make “To Do” lists during church
~And hate the very people who love you the most
You could do all this—
And the Father would still be proud of you—
Not for what you did or didn’t do…
But for WHO you are.
And you are His Beloved.
lk
Are you striving to
earn God’s favor?
What expectations of
yourself do you need to let go?
Here or somewhere…be real.
Share your journey.
Relevant Worship
Amazing Grace by the Celtic Woman {Beautiful}
My Dear by Bethel
Your Grace is Enough by Chris Tomlin
God’s grace is enough.
2 Corinthians 12:9
poignant and revelatory
ReplyDeleteLove it! This is timely in that we are talking about expectations with our first year female med students tonight. I'm going to work this in!
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Med students. Pressure of many expectations. Hope the Truth drives deep within them.
DeleteSo amazingly, ridiculously true ... and I'm so glad.
ReplyDeleteSo reassuring to know I am so precious in God's sight that I don't have to earn His favour or mercy!
ReplyDelete"Enough." That's a heavy cloak. :) Now and again, striving creeps back into my spirit. Remnant of an old cloak. It starts in my toes and somehow lays hold of my heart before I see it coming. It makes me think my performance matters. That the person others see is more flawed underneath than they know. And if they knew, then . . . And I want to duck in under the trees and let the other runners (the better runners) go on by. Because I can't keep up. I can't get it right. I'm not fast enough. I'm not good enough. And when I'm found out, the other runners will push past me anyway. I'll just get in their way. So I may as well just . . . Yeah. Remnant of an old cloak. Old. Very old. Older than dirt. :)
ReplyDeleteRobin, I have been so moved by your posts lately. Our culture and even our churches send us the same message, performance matters. Our spirits refuse to accept this knowing that we can do nothing to earn His love, and yet our flesh struggles to ignore this false message. I pictured you and even myself running the race, tempted to give up because I'll never be able to get it right for man. Then I realize who I am running for and even if alone, I continue to run because He runs right beside me, He runs the race with me and I am dearly loved and He is very proud!
Deletepassion4Him, yes. Even if alone, we run. And we keep running. As we run, we call back to those beside and behind us of the pitfalls and sticks that line the path and threaten our running. That you are moved by my posts affirms the reason for the running. . . . and confirms the purpose for the struggle. Much is at stake. Thanks for allowing our circles to intersect. Your words inspire life.
DeleteMy spirit shouts "Amen!" This is how He sees us and this is how He sees everyone around us; one very proud Papa! I loved the entire list but especially chuckled at never finishing the books you've read. You must have peeked at my bookshelf. :)
ReplyDeletethis should be a video... ya know, the cool ones they show at church (when I'm making to-do lists...) yeah, mighty good.
ReplyDelete